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Twelve Panthers came home with medals, three of them gold, and Powell finished a strong third in the Wyoming state wrestling tournament.

Jessee Craig, Jimmy Seckman and Olie Olson all finished the season as state champions, and Charles Wittick came within a point of joining them but had to settle for second. Robert Friday, Colt Nix, and Randy Andrews all finished third, and Waylon Bays finished fourth. Kurt Bullinger, Trevor Griffeth and Clay Saldana finished fifth and Tyler Patterson sixth.

Northwest College sophomore Nick Petersen spent most of wrestling’s regular season ranked atop the 184-pound weight class. On Saturday in Spokane, Wash., he finished his junior college career the same way.

Petersen capped a stellar Trapper career with a 4-1 victory over Austin Moorehead of Rend Lake College to become national champion. It also helped pace the Trappers to an eighth-place finish at the 2011 national tournament.

The Northwest College Trappers suffered a sweep by Sheridan on their home court Tuesday evening. The men dropped the de facto sub-region championship game by a 67-62 final count. The Trapper women fell 84-77.

Powell High School will pay tribute to not only one of its most storied athletes, but to a trendsetter in the field of women’s athletics this Friday when it retires the jersey of Dale Ann Meeker during a ceremony at the Powell-Cody basketball games.

For the seven national tournament qualifiers from the Northwest College wrestling team, the brackets have been set. Competitors now know the identity of their first-round opponents and can begin to scout a possible path through the brackets.

For Trapper head coach Jim Zeigler though, this stage of the game is all about taking things one step at a time.

The list of possible candidates to fill the vacant Northwest College head volleyball coaching position has been pared to three people. Those individuals will visit campus later this month to complete the interview process.

“We feel pretty strongly about the candidates,” said Northwest College athletic director Andy Ward. “I look forward to meeting each one in person and getting to know a little more about them and their coaching styles.”

A climber for more than three decades, he set eyes on Cody for the first time last winter when he came to town for the annual Water Fall Ice Festival. Unfortunately, a broken leg suffered in the weeks prior to the festival prevented him from even venturing out.

Seven out of nine Northwest College wrestlers earned a spot on the NJCAA national championship bracket while the Trapper team placed second at the West Central Zone championships Saturday. The team now takes a week off to prepare for the national championships in Spokane, Wash.

“It feels good to be going back,” said sophomore 133-pounder Jesse Hillhouse, who was crowned the weekend’s outstanding wrestler at the conclusion of Saturday’s championship round.

Tyler Roberts and Brad Tunesi scored during a 47-second span of the final period to rally the Yellowstone Quake to a 3-2 hockey victory over Bozeman at Riley Arena on Saturday. In doing so, they put the Quake firmly in control of their own destiny with five games to play.

“I’ll sleep a lot better tonight,” said Quake head coach Craig Furstenau, who watched his team miss out on a golden chance Friday night when they dropped a 3-2 overtime decision in Bozeman. “This takes a lot of the pressure off.”

Northwest College will take center stage this Saturday as the Trappers open their doors to host the 2011 NJCAA West Central wrestling championship tournament. Action begins at 10 a.m. in Hank Cabre Gymnasium with the preliminary round of eight.

By day’s end, the identities of all national tournament qualifiers from the region will be known.